During an episode of Tracks of My Years on BBC Radio 2, Paul McCartney shared a curious little-known anecdote about Prince: the Minneapolis musician recorded a version of “The Long And Winding Road”, a Beatles song included in “Let It Be”.
The story dates back to a few years after Prince's death. McCartney recalled talking about it with a person close to the artist, probably his photographer, who asked him if he had ever heard that interpretation. If the answer was negative, he would have been told that the song had been recorded during some rehearsals, in view of a project that then remained undefined. The recording, actually sent to McCartney, impressed him with its quality, even though it was still a rough performance. “He plays the guitar really well,” he observed, hinting at his intention to ask Prince's heirs for the possibility of working on it and, possibly, publishing it.
There are currently no precise details on the date or context of that session, nor is it clear whether the song will ever see an official release. McCartney, however, reiterated his admiration for Prince, indicating “Kiss” as an emblematic episode of his repertoire and defining him “a magician”. During the broadcast he also cited other fundamental references from his training, from Chuck Berry to Buddy Holly, up to Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys.
Meanwhile, McCartney is preparing to release “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane”, his new album, which is scheduled for release on May 29, more than five years after “McCartney III”. The album includes collaborations with Sharleen Spiteri and Chrissie Hynde, as well as “Home To Us”, a duet with Ringo Starr which marks the first official collaboration between the two in the post-Beatles era. The project revolves around a re-enactment of childhood in Liverpool and the years before the birth of the Beatles.
The album collects episodes and images linked to his formative years, with a retrospective look that focuses on decisive steps in the construction of his artistic identity. The songs portray Paul candidly, vulnerablely and deeply reflective, as he writes with rare candor about his childhood in post-war Liverpool, his parents' tenacity and early adventures shared with George Harrison and John Lennon, long before the world had ever heard of Beatlemania. Alongside this autobiographical nucleus, new love songs find space, a sign of a writing that continues to move between intimate dimension and narrative vocation.
With “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane”, McCartney therefore returns to coordinates already explored in the past, but with a more explicitly personal slant: a work that intertwines memory and present, and which presents itself as one of the most introspective chapters of his recent production.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
